The 24-year Daren, whose lack of results had been heavily criticised over the past few years, enjoyed his best run on the international stage by reaching back-to-back quarter-finals in the All-England and Swiss Open earlier this month.
And Daren, ranked 43rd in the world at the start of the month, has now shot up to No. 28 – surpassing veteran Mohd Hafiz Hashim, who is No. 32.
Liew Daren: Jumped up to No. 28 in the latest world rankings.“I honestly did not expect to climb the rankings so fast ... it’s really a nice surprise,” said Daren.
“I’m really glad to have been give the break in Birmingham and the Swiss meet because that has boosted my confidence significantly.
“I now believe that I can do even better and my next target will be to break into the top 20. But, for that to happen, I need to work harder and achieve even better results in tournaments.”
The lanky shuttler, who maintained a perfect record in the Axiata Cup preliminary stages, is preparing for the Australian Open GP Gold which starts in Sydney from April 3-8.
But Daren will not have the easiest of draws Down Under despite facing a qualifier in the opener as he is tipped to meet second seed Sho Sasaki of Japan in the second round.
If he manages to pull off an upset, he could be up against ninth seed Hu Yun of Hong Kong in the third round.
“It will not be easy because I’ve lost to Sasaki the last two times ... he’s a very good player,” said Daren.
“But I’m feeling good about my game and I just need to keep on believing in myself and hopefully I’ll pull off an upset.”
Besides Daren, the other Malaysian singles shuttlers in the fray are Hafiz, Mohd Arif Abdul Latif, Chong Wei Feng, Chan Kwong Beng, Zulfadli Zulkifli, K. Yogendran and Lok Chong Chieh.
Courtesy of The Star
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